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The Stigma Cycle

Run The Stigma Cycle Fullscreen

Place the following line in your website to include this MicroSim in your course:

<iframe src="https://arunbatchu.github.io/adhd/sims/stigma-cycle-diagram/main.html" height="522px" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Description

Stigma isn't a single event — it's a feedback loop. This diagram renders the six-stage cycle from Chapter 1 as a ring: public stigma feeds hiding, hiding delays diagnosis, unexplained struggle attracts myth explanations, the myths get internalized as self-stigma, self-stigma worsens the visible struggle, and visible struggle refreshes the public stigma. Click any stage for its concrete example (drawn from the chapter's teacher story) and how it feeds the next stage.

The two green dashed nodes are the break points. Click Accurate information and the struggle-to-myths edge goes gray — a mechanism caption replaces a character verdict. Click Family uses the regulation lens and the myths-to-self-stigma edge cuts — because for one person's daily life, family is the loudest culture there is. In fullscreen mode you can also drag, zoom, and pan.

Lesson Plan

  1. Trace (3 min): Click each stage in order, reading its example aloud. Ask: where does this loop run in stories you know?
  2. Analyze (3 min): Ask which stages are visible to outsiders and which are private. (Only stages 1 and 6 are public — the loop mostly runs unseen.)
  3. Intervene (4 min): Click each break point. Discuss which one this family or classroom controls, and what the replacement behavior sounds like in an actual sentence.
  4. Extend (2 min): Connect to Chapter 14's conflict cycle — same loop structure, kitchen-table scale.

References